Not What It Looks Like
by Kestre Wynde
Summary: Tiel-va has always been a bit different from her friends and family - bold, brash, and fascinated by humans. When she meets a trainer called Matty, Tiel-va leaps at the chance to learn more firsthand, but it's not long before she discovers that human culture is very different to that of her small community. Life as a trainer's pokemon is not the magical experience she'd imagined.


_Author's note:_ I haven't tried a multi-chapter fic in a looooong time. I'd originally intended to hold off on posting until the whole thing was complete, but I decided to put up the first chapter to see what people think. It'll likely be slow to update, but the story's planned out and I've got many parts written already, so please bear with me. Inspired somewhat by Unoriginality and the many, many, many Gardevoir x Trainer OC stories out there. T rating is for disturbing themes later in the fic, although there won't be anything explicit, and individual chapters will have notes at the end with content warnings when needed.

This also takes place in a semi-AU in which some pokemon (psychic-types, many fighting-types, and most third-level evolutions) have human-level or above intelligence, and so parts of the trainer culture have changed. These changes will come up in the story, so please trust me if things seem different than usual. Hope you enjoy the story!

* * *

Tiel-va is the first of their little group to see the human. Of course, the human is still too far away for her to make out any details other than they're colourful, so she leaves the dark-shadowed shelter of the treeline and creeps closer. How close can she get without the human seeing her, without seeing the rustling of the long grass as she moves? Khero-va stays hidden behind a tree, watching fearfully and stretching out empathic tendrils towards the distant figure, but Yashe-va slowly follows her out.

≪Their skirts are really bright, aren't they?≫ Yashe-va says, curiosity warring with caution on the edges of his mind. ≪Maybe they're like masquerain? Like they're trying to say _Hey, I'm scary, don't eat me!≫_

Who would want to eat a human anyway?≫ she scoffs. ≪ _I_ think they're like beautifly - they're colourful so that they can court their family partners! Humans don't have horns, you know, so they can't sense each other like we do.≫

Yashe-va sends a splotch of exasperation at her. ≪We know, Tiel-va. You're not the only ralts to have ever seen a human before.≫

≪Yeah, but you've only seen them from a distance. Have you ever seen one up close? Back in the hot season last year, I went right up to one once, close enough to see－≫

≪They're coming this way!≫ Khero-va squeaks, and vanishes in a teleport. Tiel-va turns her attention back to the human - she'd got distracted arguing with Yashe-va and had stopped watching - to find that the human is watching a poochyena growling at them near the treeline. The human is throwing off bright flares of anticipation and excitement (she ignores the dark little streak of wanting to fight, though Yashe-va draws back) and with a flick of their hand, they toss a red and white ball. S _o_ that's _a pokeball,_ she thinks with a little thrill as a tall pokemon with gold and scarlet plumage appears, _and so this must be a trainer!_

She's seen blaziken before in hazy memory-stories shared by her sister-parent Islai-vir-kharet, who had travelled alongside a trainer for a time, but it's thrilling to see one in person. The blaziken looks awe-inspiringly powerful, balanced on one foot with the other up and wreathed in swirling flames. Her arms are up in readiness to attack, watching carefully as the little poochyena snarls and circles them, but she holds steady, her power restrained as she calmly waits for her trainer.

"Okay, now! Take it out with a blaze kick!" the human calls. Tiel-va watches in fascination as the blaziken suddenly swoops into movement, fire roaring as her foot shoots out in a sideways kick that catches the poochyena square in the ribs. He tumbles across the clearing before slumping down in a little pile, fur smoking at the tips. Immediately rolling back onto his feet, the poochyena erupts into outraged barks even as he backs away, but the blaziken doesn't react any further, never slipping from that ready calmness.

≪Tiel-va, we should go before the human sees us,≫ Yashe-va says urgently, quivering with unease. ≪Couldn't you feel them? What if they want to fight us too?≫ But she flicks cheerful rejection at him.

≪You can go if you want,≫ she replies, ≪but I want to see what happens next.≫

≪Fine. But I'm telling all your parents what you're doing!≫

≪Sec said it's fine!≫ Tiel-va says, but he's already vanished, so she turns her attention back to the clearing. The poochyena has slunk off somewhere and the blaziken has crouched down in front of the human, making happy little rumbly noises as they stroke a hand through her hair. It's such a unexpected change from the cool, poised warrior of before that Tiel-va almost wonders if this is a different pokemon.

"You did really well, Ember!" the human says. "That kick was fantastic!" At her trainer's words, an almost overwhelming feeling of devoted joy floods across from the blaziken and she presses her head more firmly into their hand. Both of them are so _happy_ that Tiel-va doesn't think twice - she pushes forward until she's clear of the long grass and can see them clearly.

Up close, the human's colours separate into reed-brown on their gallade-like skirts and red on their torso covering (they're called clothes and they can detach from a human, Tiel-va remembers, feeling proud of herself) with that light brownish colour on their face and hands. "Oh wow, a ralts already?" the human says, pulling another pokeball from a bag by their feet.

≪Hello! It's nice to meet you,≫ Tiel-va says, and the human stops with their arm raised oddly. Surprise crashes through them, momentarily erasing everything else they're feeling.

"That… I felt something in my head," the human says, staring at her. "Like speaking, but… without the words? Was that you? How did you do that?"

≪I just talked to your mind? This is how I always talk.≫ She'd known that humans can't communicate in the same way psychic pokemon can, but it's still bizarre to see this one's mouth moving so constantly. Though it seems to be hanging open now, with no sounds coming out. ≪Hello? Are you okay?≫

"I'm fine," the human replies, glancing over at the blaziken who has drawn back a little. A little waft of disappointment lingers around her, but mostly she's quiet and waiting. "I, uh… I didn't know ralts could talk as well. I thought it was just gardevoir."

≪I'm not a baby!≫ Tiel-va says, flicking them little pinpricks of indignation. ≪And I'm not a zigzagoon or something either!≫

"No, no, I can see that!" they quickly say, raising their hands. ( _What a funny thing to do,_ Tiel-va thinks. It feels a little defensive - do they want to make a light screen?) "It just, uh, surprised me, is all. Kinda changes my plan."

≪What was your plan?≫ she asks curiously. ≪Why does it need to change?≫

The human makes a funny huffing noise and some emotion she doesn't recognise slowly seeps through at the edges of their surprised happiness. "Well, I'm a pokemon trainer - wait, do you know what that is?" Tiel-va sends them a bright burst of affirmation and after a short pause, they continue. "Um, okay, whatever _that_ was aside, I'm travelling around at the moment, looking for certain pokemon so that I can － so I can build a stronger team."

≪And this is one of your team members?≫ Tiel-va turns to the blaziken, sweeping across excited cheer to her. ≪Hello! Your battle earlier was so cool, with how fast and careful you were moving! How long have you been training?≫

The blaziken looks taken aback and Tiel-va realises that she's getting too enthusiastic again. She can almost hear Thir scolding her for not being respectful to an grown-up. "Please… speak to Master, not I," the blaziken says quietly. Master? But then Tiel-va remembers a travelling hariyama she'd once met. He was meeting up with his master, he'd explained, a world-renowned machamp who'd generously agreed to take him on as her student. Tiel-va hadn't really understood at the time, but maybe it's a fighter thing? Khero-va's second-parent Nenan-ven-khatel is a bit odd sometimes too.

"This is Ember," the human says. The blaziken goes to one knee at the sound of her name, bowing her head, and Tiel-va awkwardly returns the gesture ( _oh_ , _fighters,_ she thinks fondly _)_ before turning her attention back to the human. "And I'm Matty."

≪My name is Tiel-va. Is Ember your only teammate?≫ There's two pokeballs on top of their skirts-clothes, but maybe one is just decoration. From what she's seen, humans have pokeball patterns on many things, though she hasn't found out why yet.

"No, I have one more, but you'll meet her later."

Just then, an idea strikes Tiel-va with the intensity of a lightning bolt. She wants to learn more about humans, see their City and the way they live, and what better way to do that than to travel alongside a human? Matty said they're looking for someone and Tiel-va was the first of her agemates to teleport, the first to be granted the -va on her name for being able to read emotions, so she's strong now and with some training, she'll definitely be powerful enough to be a good team member. And even now, Ember and Matty are radiating a gentle happiness that makes her want to move closer.

≪Can I travel with you and Ember?≫ she asks eagerly.

There's surprise again from Matty, this time cut through with renewed interest and more of that unknown emotion. "Wait, you _want_ to join my team?" Matty says incredulously.

≪Yes! I don't really know much about working with a trainer, but I want to see all the human places, so doesn't it make sense for us to travel together?≫ Ember hasn't said anything yet, still only standing by and waiting for Matty to finish, so Tiel-va turns to her. ≪Ember, is it okay with you if I join you for a while?≫

"If he say yes, I say yes," Ember replies, hunching her shoulders and fluffing up the feathers around her neck. Tiel-va tilts her horn forward - there's something there, an almost-submerged thread of discomfort, but it's not clear enough that it would be polite to ask about it.

"Huh." Matty is silent for a minute, considering something, then his face creases up and that sensation of happiness covers whatever she was sensing from Ember. "I guess the plan could still work after all. But you'll have to have a pokeball if you're gonna join my team."

≪A pokeball?≫ Tiel-va darts forward to inspect the one still in Matty's hand. It looks just like the ones from Islai-vir-kharet's memory-stories, red on top and white underneath, but it's a bit strange to think that one will soon belong to her. At home, the only things people carry with them are small decorative items that can be looped around the neck or the horn; bigger items are kept in the sharing space for whoever needs them. Tiel-va's not sure how she's going to look after the pokeball, since it doesn't have a string and she'll get tired if she has to levitate it everywhere.

Matty lifts up the pokeball, clicks the circle in the middle, and then her musings are abruptly cut short as everything flashes red. The world around her fades to a pale, muted shadow of itself and she's drifting, floating half-aware in something like the edge of sleep. Her feet aren't touching the ground. The world is distant and unreachable. Everything feels like it's spinning slowly out of sync.

Somewhere far away at the edge of her senses, a tinny metal voice is speaking words that should mean something to her. "New pokemon registered to trainer ID 43761, Matthew Leyson. Species: ralts. Gender: female. Nature: bold. Place of origin: Hoenn Region Route 102. Please confirm nickname." Matty says something and she tries to focus on it, tries to reach out and feel his emotions, but everything keeps slipping away like mist.

Then red light again and it's back, she's back where she'd been standing (a short distance to the right of where she'd been standing) and she can't catch her breath. Tiel-va gasps and chokes at the sudden rush of air into her lungs, desperately grabbing onto Matty's calm to try and steady herself, and slowly, slowly, everything levels out.

≪What was that?!≫ she asks, panic splashing across despite her attempts to rein it in. She's not a child anymore; she can control what she shares.

"You were in a pokeball for a minute. Every trained pokemon has one." Is it really something normal, feeling like that? Does every pokemon feel like that in a pokeball? There hadn't been anything like it in sister-parent Islai-vir-kharet's stories - neither Islai-vir-kharet nor her companions had been asked to stay in a pokeball - and Matty hadn't reacted after she reappeared, still happy and calm. Worry is starting to trickle through now, though, and he kneels down next to her. "Are you okay? It didn't hurt, did it?"

≪…No, it didn't hurt. It just felt…≫ Tiel-va can't think straight, so she just pushes the memory-sense to Matty. For a second, Matty echoes back that same terrifyingly strange lassitude, but then it fades.

Matty tips his head to the side in puzzlement. "I think… was that you just now? Something felt strange. But I'm sure it'll be okay, right? Ember and Sassy never have problems going into their pokeballs, so I'm sure it will feel normal soon. Especially now that you know what to expect, right?"

≪Ember?≫ Tiel-va says, desperately turning to the blaziken. ≪Is it normal for you? You don't feel bad going in a pokeball?≫

Ember shakes her head and Tiel-va relaxes a tiny bit. If Ember says it's okay, then Matty's probably right and she'll get used to it eventually. Still… ≪I want to stay out of the pokeball,≫ she says to Matty.

"Yeah, of course. I mean, there'll be times when you'll _have_ to be in the pokeball because of rules or whatever, and I think you'll adjust better if you stay in, but if you don't want to, I won't force you." Suddenly, Matty wraps himself in hurt like a tattered cloak. "I guess you've probably heard some bad stories about trainers, huh? We're not all like that. I'd never hit my pokemon or make them battle if they're injured or anything like that. You can trust me."

At the edge of her senses, she can hear her parents calling, their worry and love for her helping to soothe over the lingering fright. Despite Matty's assumption, she _hasn't_ heard any horror stories about trainers, and so doesn't that mean that it's okay? The local shiftry are terrible gossips, so she's sure one of them would have mentioned something if there was something to be said.

"You do trust me, right?" Matty repeats.

It'll be okay. ≪Yes, I think I trust you,≫ Tiel-va replies, and the hurt immediately lifts away, Matty sending out happiness in a buoyant wave that engulfs her, wipes away all her concerns. She radiates it back to Matty, to Ember, to her parents, to anyone even remotely in range, that everything is wonderful and she is surrounded by joy.

 _≪Tiel-va? Are you…alri…ght?≫_ asks her third-parent, his message drifting apart over the distance. _≪What…is happen…ing?≫_

 _≪I'm fine, I'm fine!≫_ she sings back, spinning around. _≪Thir, I met a human and we're going travelling together! I'm going to see everything!≫_

 _≪Islai-vir-kharet … said it is ov… erwhelm…ing, … so many humans… and pokemon…≫_ her second-parent murmurs. _≪Be care… ful, Tiel-va.≫_

Then Tiel-va senses the soft quaver of someone teleporting in front of her. Matty stumbles back, fear spiking through him and hands reaching for the pokeballs on his belt, but Tiel-va sends reassurance at him. Her first-parent has always had good range.

≪Are you sure about this, Tiel-va?≫ Firs says to her, kneeling and gently touching her horn. ≪You've spoken about this for a long time, but it will be a big leap. Is this still what you want to do?≫

Tiel-va pushes across her confidence, her assurance, her love for her parents and her gratitude for their concern all wrapped up together in a ball of emotion that her first-parent accepts like the most precious of gifts. In return, Firs gently surrounds Tiel-va's mind with her self for a moment. Fir's love for her feels like looking up at a clear sky, knowing that the blue will never end.

≪All right, then. Be safe, and remember that we will always be here. We love you, never forget that.≫

≪I love all of you too.≫

Human.≫ Firs stands and moves before Matty, levitating gently so that they stand eye to eye. ≪Stand by my child. Do not bring her to harm.≫ At Matty's nod, she vanishes.

"So, uh…" Matty chuckles nervously. "Guess that gardevoir was your mom, huh? She's, uh, okay with you leaving, right?"

≪My first-parent,≫ Tiel-va corrects, though going by the ripple of confusion, Matty hasn't understood the difference. Something to explain another time. ≪All of my parents said that it's fine, but Firs just likes to be sure. Okay! I'm going to say goodbye to my friends, and then we can go to the human city!≫

Matty opens his mouth, but she's already teleporting, air and energy twisting around her. (It's oddly difficult - Tiel-va doesn't have the best range, but teleporting has always been as simple as moving from one place to another. Now the air feels thick and heavy, like wet clay clinging to her limbs, and she has to push through to her destination.) She steps out halfway back to home, Matty far out of sight, and in an instant, Yashe-va and Khero-va have appeared beside her.

≪Tiel-va, what are you _doing?!_ ≫ Yashe-va hisses at her. Sparks of anger fizz and skitter over the churning well of fear he's trying not to let her see. ≪You're going off with some _human?_ ≫

≪Islai-vir-kharet said that lots of humans want to fight all the time,≫ Khero-va adds. They shiver at the idea, distaste streaking their thoughts. ≪What are you going to do if someone gets angry? You're not very good at changing people's emotions.≫

≪I am too!≫ Tiel-va says out of reflex. (There's an odd ringing, echoing sensation in her mind, but she ignores it.) ≪And anyway, I can shield or levitate them away or something. Plus the blaziken travelling with him, Ember, she's super strong! She's a fighter, so she can protect us if anyone wants to battle. Matty and Ember are nice people, so everything will be fine! You guys worry so much.≫ She puffs fond exasperation at them. ≪Islai-vir-kharet said that it was great travelling with a human! She saw so many interesting things, and I want to see them too.≫

Yashe-va puffs back at her. ≪We _know,_ Tiel-va. You've been talking about it since we were little. It's just…≫

He trails off, uncharacteristically quiet and hidden, and Khero-va picks up his words. ≪Don't forget about us off in the bigger world,≫ they say.

≪I won't. Of course I won't.≫ Tiel-va shares her surety, as solid as the ground beneath them, and for a moment, the three of them are joined in that sense of resoluteness. (The ringing is getting louder, but Yashe-va and Khero-va don't react to it.) ≪I'll come back and share all my stories like Islai-vir-kharet did.≫

≪You'd better, okay?≫ says Yashe-va, bumping his horn against hers like usual. ≪Probably we won't even notice you're gone. Wait, no, we'll definitely notice because it'll be quiet for the first time. Stop laughing at me! Get going already!≫

Khero-va sends her their wish for her good fortune and Tiel-va touches horns with them both one final time. (It feels like her limbs are trembling in sync with the ringing). Then she teleports back to where Matty and Ember are waiting for her.

(The teleport back is as easy as it ever has been.)

(The ringing has disappeared.)

"Ready to go?" Matty asks.

≪I'm ready!≫ And together, the three of them set off for the forest's end.


End file.
